How did Duolingo start?

Duolingo was founded by Luis von Ahn and his PhD student, Severin Hacker, shortly after von Ahn sold his previous company, CAPTCHA, to Google. Motivated by the desire to provide equal access to education, especially in poorer countries like his native Guatemala, von Ahn aimed to create a free platform for learning languages. He observed that learning English was crucial for many people to obtain better jobs and improve their socio-economic conditions. This motivated the creation of Duolingo to offer high-quality language education for free to users worldwide 1 2.

Initially, the business model included a clever approach where users would translate real-world content as part of their language learning exercises. This generated revenue through partnerships with media companies like CNN for translated content. However, this model was ultimately abandoned because it was not scalable and diverted focus from improving the educational aspects of the platform. Instead, Duolingo shifted to a freemium model allowing free access with ad-supported lessons, and offering a premium subscription to remove ads and provide additional features. This strategy successfully balanced the mission of free education with financial sustainability 3 4.